Most clicked story of the week:
Districts and states nationwide are debating the benefits and challenges of four-day school weeks — a scheduling strategy often used to retain teachers and save money. The plan typically includes four days for student instruction. The fifth day is set aside as a complete day off, or as a non-instructional day filled with extracurricular activities or targeted instruction for students and professional development and lesson planning for teachers.
A 2023 analysis by the National Conference of State Legislatures found 24 states had at least one school district operating on a four-day week. The model is more common in small rural districts, although larger districts have been discussing the option in recent years, according to the NCSL analysis.
The amount Peninsula School District in Washington expects to save in canceled ed tech contracts by the 2026-27 school year through “vibe coding,” according to Kris Hagel, the district’s chief information officer. Vibe coding, a term coined and defined in 2025 by AI researcher Andrej Karpathy, refers to using generative AI tools to build software with text prompts that guide the AI to build code for an app. Hagel said the district has already identified three or four software subscription tools it will likely not renew because it vibe coded its own solutions.
Policy in the spotlight
- The U.S. Department of Education announced April 6 that its Office for Civil Rights is rescinding parts of resolution agreements with five school districts and one college resulting from Title IX investigations under previous Democratic administrations. The resolution agreements were meant to advance LGBTQ+ inclusion, as the Obama and Biden administrations interpreted the law barring sex discrimination in education programs as including LGBTQ+ students in its protections.
- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is moving to revamp its Clean School Bus Program and has completed or is actively addressing 11 recommendations its Office of Inspector General made to improve implementation and oversight of the $5 billion in grants to help school districts buy eco-friendly buses. The office’s latest findings follow a review of its five previous reports investigating challenges with the program — in which two key issues identified were EPA’s application and selection process for grants and the way funds were managed.
- A federal proposal restricting diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility would harm student success initiatives, impose vague guidelines for educators and violate federal law, according to educators, industry groups and Democratic leaders. The comments came in public feedback on a proposed regulation from the General Services Administration that would require all federal funding recipients — including schools and colleges — to certify that they don’t use DEI programs. The public comment period closed March 30.
Enrollment and sustainability concerns
- Universal pre-K can help slow K-12 enrollment declines in public schools and build stability in the early grades, according to research released in late March by the Urban Institute. The nonprofit found that in the District of Columbia —which offers universal pre-K starting with 3-year-olds — the 3-year-old participants were 35 percentage points more likely to stay in the district’s public schools through kindergarten. They were also 18 percentage points more likely to remain at the same school from pre-K at age 4 to kindergarten compared to peers who didn’t attend preschool.
- After-school providers’ concerns about program sustainability rose in 2025, reaching pandemic-era levels, according to recent survey results from Afterschool Alliance. Over half of providers reported fears of having to close their programs in 2025. These challenges come as the Trump administration’s FY 2027 budget request proposed eliminating and consolidating key federal funds, including the $1.3 billion 21st Century Community Learning Centers that benefit after-school and summer programs.
